Pennsylvania Voters Urged to Hand-Deliver Mail Ballots As Battleground State Plagued by Delivery Delays

Pennsylvanian voters are being urged to hand-deliver their mail-in ballots, with just one week to go until Election Day.

Governor Tom Wolf and Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar encouraged people to deliver their votes to their county election office, other officially designated sites, or drop boxes in a news conference on Tuesday.

"If you haven't already, voters with mail ballots should immediately hand-deliver your ballot to your county-designated location," a press release from the governor's office read.

"Don't wait until Election Day. Hand-delivering your own ballot now will give you the peace of mind that your vote will be counted, and your voice will be heard in this historic election."

The governor took to Twitter to remind his constituents of the importance of making their vote count.

"Thanks to sweeping election reforms, nearly 1.5 million PA voters have already cast their ballots," Wolf wrote.

"If you haven't already, there is only a week left to hand-deliver your voted mail ballot to your county-designated location."

"Don't wait, return it now," he added.

Tuesday was the deadline to apply for a mail-in or absentee ballot, the governor said.

Wolf was quick to add that voting at the polls on Election Day "will be safe," addressing delivery delays that have plagued the battleground state.

"For months, county officials and I have urged the legislature to allow counties to start processing the surge in ballots a few days before Election Day," Wolf tweeted on Tuesday.

"State Republicans walked away from passing a simple fix, and now it will take counties more time to finish counting votes."

However, Wolf assured voters that Pennsylvania is "well prepared" and ensured it would be "a fair election."

"Counting more than 3 million mail ballots may take more time than in past elections," he said. "All of us will need to be patient as county officials work tirelessly to ensure that all votes are counted. This could take a few days, but we must have accurate results."

Earlier this month, Newsweek reported that almost 60,000 mail-in ballots scheduled to be sent to Pennsylvanian voters by October 3 were delayed.

Westmoreland County officials blamed a contractor for a delay

Less than two weeks later, more than 28,000 voters in the state were sent wrong mail-in ballots because of a printing error.

Allegheny County election officials said the error was caused by an image mapping error during the printing process, which was handled by the printing and mailing company Midwest Direct.

"As an example, voter # 1 received voter #2's ballot," Midwest Direct President Sean Gebbie wrote in a letter to county officials that the county shared publicly on its website. An estimated 28,879 voters were sent the wrong ballots as a result of that error, the county said.

In September, an FBI investigation found that nine discarded mail-in military ballots from another Pennsylvanian Luzerne county had been cast for President Donald Trump.

U.S. Attorney David Freed said it was "the vital duty of government to ensure that every properly cast vote is counted."

However, in recent days, the secretary of state has assured Pennsylvanians that they have "more secure and accessible options for how they cast their ballot than ever before".

"Whichever method you choose, the important thing is that you cast your ballot and have a say in our democracy," Boockvar said.

Allegheny County officials also called on voters to drop their ballots off in person at the downtown County Office Building or to their polling location on Election Day.

"The most important thing for voters to do at this point to ensure their vote counts is to 'Bring It!,' either to the drop box at the County Office Building or to their regular polling location on Election Day," Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner tweeted.

More than three million Pennsylvanians have applied to vote by mail.

The deadline to drop off completed mail ballots is 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Pennsylvania has been in focus for months as Biden and Trump campaign to win the swing state and secure its 20 electoral votes.

The political influence of the state is significant with its 20 electoral votes all must-haves in almost every likely path to the necessary 270 for either Trump or Biden.

Website FiveThirtyEight, which uses statistical analysis to forecast outcomes, calls it "the single most important state of the 2020 election," and the likeliest to provide the decisive vote in the Electoral College.

Trump narrowly won Pennsylvania during the 2016 presidential election campaign, receiving less than one percent more of the vote than then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Newsweek has contacted the office of Wolf for comment.